Coumarin is a natural constituent of certain plants such as e.g. tonka beans, lavender, woodruff and sweet clover, all vegetable species containing coumarin at a relatively high concentration. This latter possesses a bitter gustative note which modifies itself when said compound is tasted in a diluted state, then becoming sweetish and herbal. Its use in perfumery is rather extensive wherein it is used to support herbaceous odors, such as lavender, lavandin, rosemary and citrus oils and as a fixative in various perfume compositions.
One of the objects of this invention is to replace coumarin with compounds having similar odorous properties which are non-toxic and can be used commercially in the areas where coumarin has previously been used.
We have discovered that certain of the typical odor characters of coumarin could be reproduced by using, as perfume ingredient, a cycloaliphatic unsaturated ketone derivative, namely 3-phenyl-cyclopent-2-en-1-one.
Various compounds possessing an oxo-cyclopentanic structure have been described in the past. Their interest is mainly due to their floral type scent, more particularly to their jasmine-like fragrance. Typical examples of these compounds include cis-jasmone and dihydrojasmone or 3-methyl-2-(pent-cis-2-enyl)-cyclopent-2-en-1-one and 3-methyl-2-pentyl-cyclopent-2-en-1-one, respectively.